TJSweens
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From the Pioneer Press:
Jerry Kill said he feels bad that A.J. Barker has quit his football team, and that the coach and receiver didn't have a chance to discuss their differences face to face before the University of Minnesota redshirt junior's dissatisfaction went public.
Barker, the Gophers' leading receiver who sat out the past three games because of an ankle injury, quit the team Sunday and posted his grievances on the Internet.
"It's one of those things that's unfortunate," Kill said Monday, Nov. 19, at a hastily called news conference. "I didn't know nothing about (him wanting to quit). I wish he had come and seen me. Things are a lot easier that way, to me; you always do things face to face on that nature."
Barker on Sunday posted a long letter, ostensibly sent to Kill, explaining why he left the team, where he was a walk-on wide receiver for the past three seasons. The decision to quit, he wrote, was cemented by a confrontation with Kill at the end of practice on Thursday, Nov. 15, over a disagreement over the way his ankle injury -- which Barker described as a high-ankle sprain -- was being treated.
Kill said Monday that Barker was having a "confrontation" with a team trainer that was so loud it drew the coach's attention on the field.
"Usually I kind of let things go because I'm busy," Kill said, "but it got loud, so I called A.J. over and let him know that I wasn't very happy. I can't tell you exactly my words during that time."
Athletics director Norwood Teague said he would talk to Kill about the situation but there would be no discipline, adding that he would "look into" Barker's accusation that an assistant coach called him an anti-gay slur during a practice.
According to Barker's Tumblr blog, Kill told him he would never earn a scholarship at Minnesota, is a "dime a dozen" player and that there was "nothing special" about him. Barker also accused the coach of insulting his family, and said that he had been called the anti-gay slur during a practice.
Of the latter, Kill said Monday, "Nobody's ever done that. Not to my knowledge. I'm not around every single minute, but as far as when I've been around, there's nobody ever done that."
Of insulting Barker's family, Kill said, "I'd be lying to you if I (can tell) you point-by-point what went on in that conversation, but I've never said anything about his family."
"The only thing that I recall, again, is about the training, that it's important that everything you're doing has to be on the same page," he added. "We have to answer to (head trainer) Ed (Lochrie). It's no different than me having epilepsy and having to go see three different neurologists; you get so many people in the loop you don't know what's what. You have to keep people in the loop."
Barker could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday, but he told the Pioneer Press on Sunday night the confrontation came after Kill and the trainer told him he should be healthy enough to play in the Gophers' 38-14 loss Saturday at Nebraska.
"Both he and the trainer felt I should be healthy right now," Barker said Sunday. "They felt that my injury at Purdue (on Oct. 27) shouldn't still have me injured. Coach Kill blew up on me that I should have been ready a week and a half ago. Coach Kill wants to win; there's no doubt about it. I'm not trying to sabotage the team. For me and my future, I just felt it was best to move on now rather than wait two months."
Barker also wrote that Kill told him he would never get a football scholarship at Minnesota, which Kill denied Monday. Barker has 30 receptions for a team-high 577 yards and seven touchdowns but had only one reception prior to this season. Under NCAA rules, bowl-division teams are allowed 85 scholarships a year, and Kill would had to have given Barker a scholarship by the first day of classes, with only this season's victory over UNLV under his belt.
Barker had three catches for 101 yards in that game.
Kill said he didn't know much about Barker when he arrived here from Northern Illinois prior to the 2011 season but that he gave the former DeLaSalle standout a shot after a conversation during two-a-days in August.
"He wanted play and said, 'I'm not really getting an opportunity,' " Kill explained. "I said, 'I'll give you an opportunity; I'm the head coach. I'll tell 'em to get you in there now.' So I'm the guy who gave him the opportunity. I said, 'Get in there and stay healthy; you'll be in good shape.'
"He went to practice and never had any hamstring problems, started (practicing) with the first team and started doing good, and he played in the UNLV game and did a good job there."
Kill said the scholarship issue never came up on Thursday; that, he said, was about Barker's inappropriate attitude with a team trainer.
"I think between the scholarship and my discipline on Thursday probably didn't set very well, and I feel bad," Kill said. "I would have liked the opportunity to visit with him."
To sum up Barker's complaints:
1. Kill didn't give him a scholarship based on 4 career catches before the first class.
2. One of Kill's assistants used a gay slur when chewing out during practice (Oh no not that! No football has done something like that before)
3. Kill yelled him for not following his treatment plan and then getting into an argument with the trainer over it.
4. Kill had the audacity to come back and be positive with him after the fact.
Does this kid get football teams don't have an HR department? As I said before...sack up!
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"The eternal fate of the noble and enlightened: to be brutally crushed by the armed and dumb."
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